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September 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

The Real World Change 2.0 series with Leslie Poston is an ongoing look at how people are using social media tools and their personal and professional social media networks to bridge the chasm from the Internet and social media bubble to the real world to do a variety of things to effect true change.

Change can come in waves or inch along in baby steps. When you have a great need for positive change, worrying about the level of impact your effort may have or the recognition it may attain for you only slows the change down. It’s better to think of it in terms of driving action.

People in the social media space are starting to take this innate ability of social media to drive action to heart. Often, social media lovers are accused of existing in a social media bubble made up of what non-Internet types consider inane activities like Twittering or posting to sites like FriendFeed and Ning.

These activities may seem inane to some, but they carry the power of immediate connection. We toss the word conversation around like so much candy, but the power of social media has never been solely about the conversation to me. Instead the power of social media is the ability to make genuine and valuable connections between businesses or people in a matter of moments.

Leveraging these connections to effect change offers us a power to offer help greater even than some government functions. Recent examples of social media banding together online to organize and help people offline happened this past weekend as Hurricane Gustav barreled down on the Gulf Coast.

Within hours of the projected path hitting weather sources, social media types like Andy Carvin have spearheaded efforts to create a network for those fleeing from the hurricane to get help if they need it, and for those headed that way to help to find out where they were most needed.

How did something that takes massive, well funded governments and government agencies days to set up take mere hours? Carvin used tools like Twitter and Ning and the social network of contacts he had built up on tools like Twitter to form a group of willing volunteers, with each volunteer assuming a task and running with it to the next level.

Carvin’s effort to help get a network in place for Hurricane Gustav (and later to have one ready for Hannah in case it escalated to hurricane levels) is only one recent, large scale example of the fat mobilization potential of social media. Social media has also been instrumental in finding people emergency housing in floods, helping arrested bloggers, tracking police raids at the Republican National Convention and more.

In this series I will be taking a look at our efforts for change in social media and the efforts of others in the social media space. I will be showcasing various ways we are organizing our massive networks to make things happen offline, and I will be writing pieces that help you mobilize your own social networks to make change happen for you close to home.

(Image via Flickr/ Ion-Bogdan Dumitrescu)

Source:Mashable!

Despite the reams of new job postings being released day in and day out, the treachery of the job search has been greatly facilitated with online engines and listing services. And specific to the tech sector, sites like Dice, and even various new media publications have really put strong emphasis on niche positions and connecting the seeking with the seekers. Still, having to browse multiple sites for something like a spot within a startup isn’t especially easy. Enter, HotStartupJobs.

The service is just starting out itself. It marked its official debut only hours ago. But already it has pulled substantial amounts of listings from various sources and RSS feeds from around the Web, including sites like Dice, TechZulu, ResumeBucket, KillerStartups, and NeoHire. Mashable, too. Hot Startup Jobs pulls from numerous sources, and designates available work to unique channels.

For instance, if you happen to take well to website programming, Java or IU projects in particular, or regard yourself as mobile savvy, or even desire a title of blogger or copywriter, this engine makes it that much easier to find the right gig, short-term or long. And each channel can be subscribed to, so you’re always kept aware of items that enter the fold.

It’s well-crafted, overall. There are small accouterments that the service’s designers have included for users to browse in addition to the main course. Industry news takes a sliver-sized column. But it holds well to the idea of a basic resource. Quick to navigate and eminently useful, if you want a big catch to rummage, this is the place to check out.